SEPTEMBER 4, 1913] 
NATURE 9 
gress has served as an excellent distributing 
agency for the literature on the geology and 
mineral resources of the Dominion. 
While the delegates were in Ottawa occasion 
was taken to do honour to the memory of the 
first director of the Geological Survey of Canada. 
Affixed to a block of Laurentian rock, in which 
formation Sir William Logan did pioneer work, a 
tablet has been placed in the Victoria Memorial 
Museum. The tablet, which was unveiled in the 
presence of the visiting delegates, bears the fol- 
lowing inscription :—‘‘ William Logan, K.T., 
LL.D., F.R.S., 1798-1875, the Father of Cana- 
dian Geology, Founder and First Director Geolo- 
gical Survey of Canada, 1842-1869. Erected by 
the International Geological Congress (Canada), 
1913.” Two of the Canadian universities took 
advantage of the opportunity afforded them to 
honour some of the visiting members of the con- 
gress. On August 1, McGill University conferred 
the degree of LL.D. on J. F. Kemp, U.S.A.; 
H. Backstrém, Sweden; A. Lacroix, France; A. 
Bergent, Germany; and A. Harker, England. On 
August 14, the last day of the congress, the 
University of Toronto paid a similar honour to 
P. M. Termier, France; T. C. Chamberlin, 
U.S.A.; R. Beck, Germany; J. J. Sederholm, 
Finland; T. Tschermyschev, Russia; A. Strahan, 
England; and W. G. Miller, Canada. A ceremony 
very different in character—though no less digni- 
fied—was performed when the delegates visited 
Montreal. At the old Indian reservation of 
Caughnawga the visitors were treated to a short 
exhibition of the Indian national game, to an 
Indian play depicting the courtship of former 
times, and finally four of the party were selected to 
become chiefs of the tribe. They were:—I. P. 
Tolmatchew, Russia; W. Paulcke, Germany; 
H. M. Cadell, Scotland; and F. D. Adams, 
Canada. After going through the dance of adop- 
tion they were given Indian names, and were 
received as full members of the tribe. 
No account of the twelfth congress would be 
complete without reference to the kindnesses 
showered on the delegates during their visit to 
Toronto. The local committee and ladies’ com- 
mittee, aided by the executive committee of the 
congress, had made very extensive and thorough 
arrangements, and the people of Toronto re- 
sponded in a most whole-hearted manner. Recep- 
tions, banquets, garden-parties, and afternoon 
teas were prominent features in the proceedings; 
automobiles were at the disposal of the members; 
and several of the clubs in town were thrown 
open while the congress was in session. If one 
may judge from the appreciative remarks to be 
heard on every side, the visiting delegates carried 
away with them very pleasant memories of 
Toronto and its people. 
On the invitation of M. A. Renier, who repre- 
sented the Government of Belgium, it was decided 
to hold the thirteenth congress in Belgium four 
years hence. The subject on which a_ special 
monograph shall be issued by the executive com- 
mittee of the congress of 1917 was left to the 
discretion of the new committee. REC. W. 
NO. 2288, VOL. 92] 
THE OIL-FIELDS OF BURMA. 
ee appearance of this memoir will be wel- 
comed equally by those who are engaged in 
the study of petroleum from a purely scientific 
point of view, and by those who are merely con- 
cerned with its profitable exploitation in Burma 
and other parts of the Indian Empire; not only 
because the author possesses a special knowledge 
of the subject in both aspects, but also because 
he has brought together, and arranged in a con- 
cise and readable manner, a mass of information 
that has hitherto been scattered through the pages 
of a voluminous literature, not always readily 
accessible. 
For close upon a century after Michael Symes 
and Hiram Cox, in the course of their journeys 
up the “ Erai-Wuddey ” to the court of Ava, had 
visited the earth-oil wells of “‘ Yanangheoum,” the 
great oil-belt of Burma remained almost un- 
explored by Europeans. The virtues of ‘“‘ Rangoon 
oil” as a lubricant, especially for small arms, be- 
came well known; and following on Dr. Christi- 
son’s discovery, in 1836, that it contained a large 
proportion of solid paraffin, considerable quanti- 
ties of the crude oil were imported into this 
country for the manufacture of candles. But nv 
further developments took place until, within a 
year of the aanexation of Upper Burma, in 1886, 
exploitation on modern lines began to supersede 
the antiquated methods of the Burmese, and a 
systematic investigation of the conditions under 
which the oil occurred was taken in hand. 
As a result of these investigations, carried on 
not only by officers of the Geological Survey, but 
also by geologists employed by the several oil 
companies, it has become apparent that the petrol- 
eum is practically confined to certain horizons— 
whether one or more has not yet been definitely 
ascertained—in the upper portion of the enormous 
accumulation of clays and incoherent sandstones 
known as the Pegu system, corresponding: fairly 
closely with the Miocene of Europe. These beds, 
according to Mr. Pascoe, were deposited in a 
great gulf some 4oo miles in length, occupying 
the greater portion of the present Irrawaddy 
valley. Orogenic folding, proceeding, in part, 
simultaneously with the deposition of the beds, 
has thrown them into a series of elongated domes, 
beneath which the oil has accumulated. The 
second and third parts of the memoir are devoted 
to a discussion of the structure of each of the 
anticlines so far examined, and of its capabilities 
as a producery of oil. 
The most productive of these anticlines as yet 
discovered is that of Yenangyaung, where Dr. 
Oldham first recognised, in 1855, the connection 
between anticlinal structure and the accumulation 
of petroleum. Here the oil is confined within an 
area of less than one-and-a-half square miles, and 
yet, since the year 1888, this little field has pro- 
duced more than a thousand million gallons. No- 
thing like this has been discovered elsewhere in 
1 “The Oil-fields of Burma.” By E. H. Pascoe. Pp. xxxix-+269+54 
plates. Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India. (Calcutta: Geological 
Paes 3 London : Kegan Paul, Trench, Triibner and Co., Ltd., 1912.) Price 
6s. 8a. 
